Mira Nair (born October 15, 1957) is a New York-based Indian film director. She was born in India and attended Delhi University and Harvard. Her debut Salaam Bombay won the directors award at the Cannes Film Festival and was also nominated for an Oscar.

Mira Nair was born in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, the youngest of three children from a middle-class family. Her father was a civil servant and her mother a social worker. She did her schooling in Bhubaneswar and Simla. She studied sociology in Delhi University . Here, she became involved in political street theater and performed for three years in an amateur drama company. She left for the US at age 19 with a scholarship at Harvard.

Her most recent work Monsoon Wedding, a film about a chaotic Punjabi Indian wedding was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice film festival.

Her film credits include

So Far from India
Salaam Bombay (Hello Bombay)
Mississippi Masala
The Perez Family
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
My Own Country
Monsoon Wedding
9'11''01 September 11
Hysterical Blindness (for HBO)
She currently teaches at Columbia University in New York.